The Brady Bunch
by Stelena-Beautiful
Summary: Chelsea and Max become parents.
1. Prologue and Chapter 1

**The Brady Bunch**

_**Chelsea can def have kids in this story! lol Enjoy!**_

**Preface**

Chelsea Brady anxiously paced her bedroom at her London flat and sighed once more. This couldn't be happening. Could it? Could she really be pregnant? She wasn't even finished with med school. She couldn't have a baby now. She didn't know the first thing about being a parent. She had little experience with children and sort of wanted to keep it that way.

She checked the egg-timer on her dresser and sighed as she began to count down. _10 ... 9 ... 8... 7..._

Finally the timer went off and she wiped her suddenly sweaty brow. She walked into her little bathroom and hesitantly approached the sink. Her tiny hands shook as she closed them around the little white stick.

"Okay ... Two pink lines means ..." She looked at the directions again to be sure and sighed. Yep, she was definitely pregnant.

"Well isn't this priceless?" She thought aloud.

"What's priceless?"

Chelsea jumped involuntarily as a familiar voice floated up from behind her. She sighed and tried to steel her emotions as she turned to face Max. "Max!" she snapped. "You can't just walk into someone's bathroom. What if I was naked?"

Max grinned. "That's what I was hoping for actually."

"It's being naked that got us into this mess in the first place," Chelsea blurted out and her face immediately flamed red. "Uh ..."

Max sobered a bit. "What are you talking about? What 'mess'?"

Chelsea's hands shook on the pregnancy test which she had behind her back. She studied his handsome, earnest face. This was Max. _Her Max._ He would understand where she was coming from. Certainly he would.

"Max ... I ..."

"What is it, Chels? What's wrong?" Max asked, reaching out and cupping her cheek in his hand.

Chelsea's eyes filmed with tears and she slowly pulled her hands out from behind her back and held the test out to him.

"Is that ... Is that what I think it is?" Max asked with wide green eyes.

"What do you think it is?" Chelsea asked, trying to lighten the suddenly somber mood that had blanketed the room.

"It looks like a pregnancy test with two pink lines. I take it that means ..."

"I'm pregnant!" Chelsea yelped. "Yep, I am!"

Max watched her for a long moment, seeming to study her, before finally smiling. "This is unexpected to say the least but ..."

_"But?"_

"But I am happy. I have wanted a kid for a long time even as scary as the idea is with my twisted DNA..."

Chelsea's mouth dropped open a bit. "You're - you're happy about this?"

"Sure ... Wait, you aren't?"

Chelsea sighed. "I don't know. I mean, I just found out. I don't know if I should be happy or sad or what ... I'm confused ..."

"Well that's okay."

"Is it? You already know you're happy and I don't know what I feel. I do know that we weren't planning this. I don't want to end up like my mother ..."

Max closed the distance between them and pulled her flush against his strong chest. He looked down at her and offered her a sincere smile. "Chels, your mom had it so hard, it's true. Hell, she thought you were dead for fifteen years. That had to kill her inside. She probably felt like she didn't have anyone to turn to but you can always, always turn to me because I love you. I think I have loved you since the first day we met on the racetrack."

Chelsea rested her head on his shoulder. "I have always loved you too, Max, even when we were broken up and I was always giving you a hard time."

"You still give me a hard time," he joked and she frowned before he leaned down to capture her lips in a kiss. After they pulled apart breathlessly, Chelsea looked up at him. "You ready for this. Really?" She asked.

"Most definitely."

XoXoXo

**Chapter 1**

_**Nearly three months later...**_

Max walked in the front door to find Chelsea's mom sitting on their small, leather sofa. She was talking in a low voice with Chelsea who was clearly crying.

Max immediately moved over to Chelsea, causing her to look up. "Hey what's wrong, Chels?" He asked, noting the crease of her brow and the tears dripping down her face. "Are you alright? Is it the -" He started to say "baby" but they hadn't told Billie yet.

"The baby," Chelsea said. She looked up at Max and reached for his hand. "She knows now."

"Oh," Max said, noticing Billie's drawn expression. Billie looked concerned but not angry like Max had been expecting. He guessed Bo would be playing "bad cop" on this issue to Billie's sympathetic "good cop".

"Yes, I know," Billie said and sighed as she lightly chucked Chelsea on the chin. "I wish you would have told me sooner, before -"

"Before?" Max asked, panic inherently filling his chest. He reached out and touched Chelsea's arm. "What's wrong, Chels? Talk to me. Please."

"I had some spotting today," Chelsea said. "I was scared. I'm a med student. I knew it could be nothing but -"

"But?" Max asked, dropping down onto the opposite chair from Chelsea but never releasing her hand. He would never let her go again.

"But I went to see the OBGYN and she says my pregnancy is progressing okay ... except for one thing. My placenta ... Well, I have something called Placenta Previa. It means basically the placenta is down low in my uterus and its going to cause more bleeding. The only reason they found it when I'm three months along is that they did an ultrasound ..."

Tears coursed down Chelsea's cheek as Max went to wipe them away. "Why didn't you call me? If it's serious..."

"It _is_ serious," Billie piped in. "But she knew you had a job interview today so she called me instead."

Chelsea sighed. "I'm sorry, Max; I just didn't want to ruin everything for you with this news."

"Chels, you and our baby are the world to me. You can't ruin anything. I need you to be upfront with me about everything though. We agreed that honesty is the only policy that works for us. What are the risks for you and the baby?"

Chelsea looked at Billie pleadingly and Billie shook her head. "Tell him, Chels."

"The placenta could rupture," Chelsea said finally. "And our baby - our sweet baby -" She cupped her still flat abdomen - "could die."

Max ran his free hand through his hair, the hand that wasn't locked around her tinier one. "Chels... Ohmigod. What about you - what about you? Could you -" He couldn't say the word but they both knew what he meant.

"Yeah, I could," Chelsea admitted. "But I won't. I'm strong. It's our baby we need to worry about. I wasn't even sure I really wanted to be a mom - I wasn't prepared for it - until I saw the grainy image of our baby on the monitor. And I realized I wanted him or her so much..."

Billie sighed and reached out, squeezing her daughter's shoulder. "Chels, you have to come first. Your health, your well-being ..."

"I know what the doctor said," Chelsea snapped. "I know what it all means because I'm a premed student. But I will do anything to keep this baby, to give Max this baby, okay? I am not aborting him or her. Hell no!"

"Chelsea, listen -"

"No, Mom, you listen! This baby is the whole world to me and Max and I am not going to kill him or her because there's a chance - a really slim chance - that I could die too. You went fifteen years thinking I was dead, Mom. How can you wish that on me? Do you hate me that much?"

Billie sighed. "Chels, you know I don't. How can you even say that?"

Chelsea sniffled. "I'm sorry. It's the hormones raging, I guess. I know you don't hate me. And I love you, Mom, and I love you, Max -" she turned to face him - "but I'm not giving up this baby. No way in hell."

Max sat back on the chair and squeezed Chelsea's hand, the reality of the situation finally sinking in. He could not only lose his first child but his fiancée too. His chest tightened. He and Chelsea were going to have to figure out what to do next, where to go from here. But he wasn't going to let her make all the decisions because he couldn't stand to lose her. She was his world and pretty much always had been.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

When Billie was gone, Max insisted on helping Chelsea to their bedroom. She kept saying she wasn't an invalid, that she was a big girl who could take care of herself and he kept saying he knew that but he cared about her and she needed to stop fighting him on every little thing.

He helped her into bed and adjusted the pillows behind her, even giving her his, although she told him it wasn't necessary. "It_ is_ necessary, Chels," he said. "You need to be alright. If anything happened to you... God ..."

Chelsea reached out and squeezed his hand. "Don't worry about me, Max, okay? I can take care of myself. Just focus on our baby now. They need all the good thoughts and karma they can get."

Max gently eased beside her on the bed and pulled her lightly into his arms, careful not to hurt her in any way. He didn't say anything and she didn't either for a long time. They just lay there wrapped up in each other's embrace, both somehow afraid to let go of the other.

"Max?" Chelsea finally ventured.

Max kissed her forehead. "Yeah?"

"I want this baby," she said softly. "Please don't make me give him or her up on the off chance that I could -"

"Die. That's what you mean. And there's a good chance it could happen. I got that feeling from Billie. She didn't quite say as much but -"

"Max, you were excited for this baby until you heard what we told you today. You were even more excited than I was at first. Don't stop wanting this baby for any reason, least of all me."

Max reached out and smoothed her dark hair off of her face. "Are you kidding? You're everything to me. You come first, always. We can maybe have another baby or adopt or-"

"Max, no," Chelsea said as tears built up in her eyes again. "I want _this_ baby. When I saw them on the monitor, when I heard their little heartbeat ... I realized being the mother of your child was all I truly wanted in the whole world. And I love this baby already. I am not taking away their chance to be our everything."

"Chels -"

"Please, Max. You will love this baby."

"Of course I will - I already do but ... Dammit, I love you too, Chelsea. I don't think I could go on if I lost you again."

Chelsea rolled over and tucked herself against his strong chest. "Then we'll make sure that doesn't happen. The doctor prescribed lots of bed rest and said being around people who can help us out would be a good thing."

Max nodded. "You're really sure about this?"

"Yeah. Totally sure."

Max intertwined their fingers. "Okay. But don't leave me okay?"

"Never," Chelsea said and kissed him softly on the lips. "You're stuck with me now that I'm knocked up."

Max sighed. "You think that's the only reason I hang around?"

Chelsea smiled and stroked his cheek. "Well I do make good clam chowder courtesy of Caroline's recipe..."

Max laughed softly. "You're cute too. And you're ... you, Chelsea, and that's just what I love about you."

"I won't be making any clam chowder or corn bread for the next six months..."

"I can deal," Max said. "Besides, maybe Mom can airmail me some."

Chelsea's eyes suddenly lit up as if something amazing had just occurred to her_. "Max!"_

_"Chels!_"He chuckled. "Seriously. What are you thinking inside that head of yours?"

"I miss our home. Our _real_ home in Salem. I miss Caroline and my dad and my sister and our whole family really."

Max seemed to get the picture. "So you want to go back to Salem?"

"Yeah, why not?" Chelsea said. "I mean, I can't go back to school till the baby is born anyway. Our family is there. When you're busy, I can be with one of the relatives because I know you - you won't want me alone for a second..."

"You're right..."

"And my mom is all healed from her accident. She's dating that guy Roger from the university... It seems like a win-win situation to me. What do you think?"

"Can you really get any rest in crazy 'ol Salem, USA?"

"Yeah. What's that saying? There's no place like home."

Max leaned over and kissed Chelsea. "Okay, Dorothy, we'll go back home."

Chelsea laughed. "Dorothy?"

"I was thinking of _The Wizard of Oz_... I have dorky moments like that."

Chelsea laughed again. "Yeah, yeah you do, Max Brady."

"Hey, don't tease me," Max chided her playfully. Then he lightly kissed her forehead one more time. "I'll start getting our travel itinerary together. If your doctor says its okay; we can be back in Salem in a few days."

**A/N:** Hope you liked that update, short as it was. Thanks for reading!


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